Iamb is a common feet in English verse, which is cadenced language cut up into lines. An iamb is an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable. Examples:
(The underlined syllables are stressed, while the syllables that are not underlined are unstressed.)
“Fire and Ice” – Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Effect: The steady and predictable rhythm created by the iambic meter in this poem emphasizes Frost's point in this poem about the inevitability of the destruction of the world -- either through fire or ice. The consistent rhythm suggests that such an ending to the world should, and can be, anticipated.
“Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” – Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sounds the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Effects: The iambic meter here creates a steady rhythm that mimics the trotting of a horse. This creates an auditory image to complement the horse imagery mentioned in the poem. The meter also sets the pace of the poem to be rather slow, allowing the reader to conjure an image of a man passing through a patch of woods, slowly. Furthermore, the iambic meter emphasizes and enhances the effect of the repetition of the last two lines -- "And miles to go before I sleep..." -- with its own repetition of unstressed-stressed syllables. Extract of Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (III.i)
William Shakespeare
To be, or not to be,—that is the question:—
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?—To die,—to sleep,—
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,—'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die,—to sleep;—
To sleep! perchance to dream:—ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
Effect: Shakespeare often writes in iambic pentameter, meaning there are five (penta) sets of iambic meters in each line. This mimics the natural rhythm of speech and Shakespeare manages to capture that essence in his plays. In this solliloquy, Hamlet mentions a list of actions "to be...to suffer...to die...to sleep...to dream...". This effect of these lists are heightened by iambic pentameter used by Shakespeare, as the metre itself is a list of repetitive unstressed-stressed syllables. Moreover, the use of iambic pentameter here also emphasizes Hamlet's indecisiveness.
Iamb
Iamb is a common feet in English verse, which is cadenced language cut up into lines. An iamb is an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable.
Examples:
(The underlined syllables are stressed, while the syllables that are not underlined are unstressed.)
“Fire and Ice” – Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Effect: The steady and predictable rhythm created by the iambic meter in this poem emphasizes Frost's point in this poem about the inevitability of the destruction of the world -- either through fire or ice. The consistent rhythm suggests that such an ending to the world should, and can be, anticipated.
“Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” – Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sounds the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Effects: The iambic meter here creates a steady rhythm that mimics the trotting of a horse. This creates an auditory image to complement the horse imagery mentioned in the poem. The meter also sets the pace of the poem to be rather slow, allowing the reader to conjure an image of a man passing through a patch of woods, slowly. Furthermore, the iambic meter emphasizes and enhances the effect of the repetition of the last two lines -- "And miles to go before I sleep..." -- with its own repetition of unstressed-stressed syllables.
Extract of Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (III.i)
To be, or not to be,—that is the question:—
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?—To die,—to sleep,—
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,—'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die,—to sleep;—
To sleep! perchance to dream:—ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
Effect: Shakespeare often writes in iambic pentameter, meaning there are five (penta) sets of iambic meters in each line. This mimics the natural rhythm of speech and Shakespeare manages to capture that essence in his plays. In this solliloquy, Hamlet mentions a list of actions "to be...to suffer...to die...to sleep...to dream...". This effect of these lists are heightened by iambic pentameter used by Shakespeare, as the metre itself is a list of repetitive unstressed-stressed syllables. Moreover, the use of iambic pentameter here also emphasizes Hamlet's indecisiveness.